With barely a whisper of marketing, Sports Illustrated's iconic swimsuit edition made its debut in India two weeks ago. The 100-rupee ($2) issue is packed with sleek foreign models in a variety of swimwear.
It arrived in this country a full 10 months after readers in the United States and elsewhere saw the feature, two years after Sports Illustrated launched its India edition and 47 years after Sports Illustrated started publishing an annual magazine full of women in bathing suits.
India has several homegrown versions of swimsuit calendars. But it is a country where the majority of women drape themselves in the five-meter sari or the four-meter salwar kameez. Swimwear mainly belongs in fashion magazines, and women are rarely seen in bathing suits in public. A visit to one of the dozens of water-based thrill parks in India provides a good snapshot of what women wear in the water: salwar kameezes, trousers and even saris ... but no swimsuits. There are very few places in India where women sport bikinis, with the exception of beaches in Goa or five-star hotel pools.
(Just for the record, no Indian has ever modeled for SI's swimsuit edition, unless you count Sonia Dara, who is an American of Indian origin.)
Nevertheless, SI's swimsuit edition seems to be everywhere. The issue has already sold more than 100,000 copies in the first two weeks of its launch, say the publishers. The target audience is the young, urban, Indian male, who is well read, Internet-savvy and has money to spend - a "Global Indian," in the words of SI India editor Kadambari Murali Wade. It is the same audience that foreign companies selling cars, luggage or clothing woo.
Bangalore-based sports media consultant Ashwin Menon, 26, said he is familiar with the swimsuit special from the time he lived in the United States, but was surprised to see it at his regular vendor. "It is cool and classy, it is not a dirty magazine," Mr. Menon said. It has both elements that men look for - sports and glamor, he said.
The SI swimsuit edition features top models, entertainers and sports celebrities, so the product is very different from the usual lad mags, the publishers say. It is also full of advertisements. "It is exciting and encouraging ... luxury advertisers have endorsed the issue," said Piyush Sharma, chief executive of Media Transasia India, the publishers of Sports Illustrated India.
Still, this is a country where some people are deeply offended by creeping Western influences, and where they often demonstrate that anger in very public ways. The top-selling men's magazines Playboy and Penthouse are banned in India. Playboy is still mulling the launch of an Indian version, minus its trademark nudes. Indian magazines in the same category are never displayed on magazine racks; they are stowed away and sold furtively on customer request.
In downtown Bangalore, magazine retailer Variety Book House has sold a modest 50 copies of the SI swimsuit edition. Store owner Yahya Sait says buyers are mostly younger to middle-aged men who sheepishly ask for the special issue. "They always say, I'm buying it for somebody else, it is a gift, a wedding present and so on," Mr. Sait said.
Mr. Sait said his business in softcore men's magazines has been ruined by the advent of the Internet. "Ten years ago, my cash register used to ring all day because many men bought not one but several fantasy magazines," he said.
The swimsuit special launch coincided with successful opening of Bollywood film "Dirty Picture," a film based on the life of Silk Smitha that features a seductive and bold Vidya Balan in the lead role. So far, there has been barely any backlash against the film or the swimsuit magazine. Ms. Murali Wade, the Sports Illustrated India editor, calls it a "maturing" of the Indian market.
"Who would have thought we would see India like this," asked Mr. Menon, a fan of the magazine. "People are adapting, moving on and ahead," he said.